Becoming
by Eventide
Summary: Third part of the series. Claire has been taken, for what and to where those who care for her can only guess.
1. Chapter 1

"Odds are ten to one. She's in good shape, pretty, but that doesn't make up for anything. They're going to rip her to pieces."

"We'll see."

It was quiet up in the VIP box, while below a few hundred people, men mostly, cheered, jeered and screamed. All the spectators were carefully selected from around the world. They all had an interest in what went on down in the pit. Winner's weren't just favorites, they were bid on. The better they did, the more they could command at auction. And these people were very willing to pay.

In the pit, the woman stood alone. She wore a white tank and a pair of cutoff jean shorts. She wasn't permitted to have anything else, not even shoes. It was even too risky to try to cut her hair, so it hung down her back, badly in need of a trim. The dye job was growing out too, so her chestnut roots showed under the cherry wood dye. She'd need cleaned up at some point, but the collar needed to be repaired properly first. The techs were still working on that one.

She didn't pace, she just stood waiting. And then one of the tunnel gates raised. The shriek of a Hunter proceeded the hulking green brute. It was pointless to start with a human opponent. The woman only ever disabled, never killed, if the target had a human face. And this was an arena of blood. The buyers needed a good show.

The two stood there for a while. Hunters were intelligent things, good at strategizing, whether alone or in packs. And this one was no different. It was patient, watching every move, or lack thereof, of its prey. The woman simply stood there for minutes on end, seemingly ignoring the bellow of the crowd above her and the creature before her.

Obviously tired of waiting, the Hunter attempted to test its prey for a response. It leapt left, right, and charged forward towards the woman. It swung a massive talon, swiping at the air just in front of her face, just before leaping backwards out of reach. The only part of the woman that moved was her hair in the current of air.

The Hunter tilted its strange head, in an almost birdlike move. Then coming to the decision that the meat before it must be dying or otherwise easy prey, it charged straight towards the woman, another hideous shriek piercing the air.

If you weren't watching closely, you would've missed the incredibly fast move. As the Hunter charged, claw thrusting forward to impale, the woman caught the lethal appendage. With an easy pivot and flick of the wrist, the talon was turned inward. The Hunter's shriek died in a gurgle as its own arm was shoved through its abdomen, to protrude out the back.

The crowd went insane. The had likely never seen anything like that before, in all their collective years in the business of blood, death, and war. The screens in the VIP box lit up like Christmas with new bets, and pre-bids. But it was still early yet. They hadn't seen even half of what that woman down there could do. Before tonight's show was over, they would be offering just about anything to have that woman in their arsenal.

"Send in two lickers next. I want Redfield bathed in blood before we pit her against another Tyrant."

* * *

A/N: This is just a little teaser. I've completely re-thought this story so this may take a bit longer till you see another update folks! I want to do this justice!


	2. Chapter 2

_Some months earlier._

She screamed in agonizing pain. It was all she had, the only thing she could cling to, the screaming. Her entire body was on fire, every synapse and nerve ending firing at once in an explosive mind blasting pain. She couldn't run, or fight, so she screamed. It was incoherent and animalistic.

Slowly, the pain faded, and the screaming trailed off into uncontrollable weeping. She couldn't cry, only weep. She was too weak to do anything else. The agony had drained her. The tears were her only comfort. They reminded her that she was still alive, still feeling. There was hope.

"You're doing so well, Mother." The pretty blonde's face came back into view. Her cool, delicate hands stroked over Claire's forehead soothingly. "I know it hurts, but just look at you. No discoloration. No deterioration. And your mind is still fully intact. You're adaptability is more than impressive. "

"Alexia...please..."

"Shh, hush now. Save your strength." Soft lips pressed to her forehead almost reverently. "We have a little time to let you rest and catch up. We've missed out on so much over these last ten years."

The lovely teenager, with her father's eyes left Claire's field of vision for only a moment. Then with a muted sound of well oiled wheels, Alexia slid back into view. Her mouth slid into a warm, almost loving smile as she looked down at Claire. Those cool hands came up and stroked away the tears.

"Do you have any idea how special you are, Mother? In all my years, I've never once come across a DNA strand as perfect as yours. It is like you were designed by the divine for just this purpose. Such a thing can't just be chance." Alexia flicked the tail of her hair back over her shoulder, settling in to the discussion. "You know, I've never been much on religion, being a scientist and all. What use have I for make believe people in the clouds? But after having known you so _intimately_, it's almost enough to make one want to believe in a Higher Power. After all, coincidence just isn't enough to explain how we met, the three of us. We are, in ourselves, a rather Divine Trinity. Mother, Father, and Child."

"You're crazy..."

Alexia tsched softly, and patted Claire's hand gently, as if correcting a small child. "Of course, it seems that way. You didn't come from the same world as Father and I. You are akin to the spirit of Creation. You're focus is life and that is just so. Father is Chaos, the undeniable unfathomable force that inflicts change. And together, you both make me, Order. And I shall shape things." Alexia nodded, as if Claire had made some kind of statement. "Yes, I know neither of you are truly accepting of Order, but that is only natural. It took all these years to make Father just right. It was a challenge, because he is so very watchful. But I managed. I did cut it close here at the end, I will admit. I had to push his drive for you very hard, and of course, Uncle Chris managed to lend a hand there. Bless his interfere heart. I can hardly wait until we see him again. As a sibling his DNA won't be a very far variant of yours. So don't fret, you won't feel so alone for long."

Claire tried to shake her head but it didn't work. The straps that held her down kept her from making even the smallest of movements. Instead, she licked her dry lips and forced her abused voice to work. "What are you talking about?"

"Family, Mother. Family. Father will stop trying to kill your brother and vice versa, when you're all the same. Well, nearly the same. All of us have our very specific uniqueness. But anyway, once Uncle Chris is fully one of us, the feud will be over. There won't be a point anymore. We will have won. And even if bad blood still remains, well they can bash heads all they like until the end of time." The girl beamed down at her with such pride and happiness, like she had done something truly wonderful. "There won't be a need to choose a side anymore. I know, I know you're thinking that there was never a need to choose, but your riding to Father's rescue just proves that you haven't thought it through just yet. There would be hard choices if you ascend and your brother diminishes, it's just best to take those choices off the table. That is what Order _does_, Mother. It creates harmony."

"Is that what Uroboros was supposed to achieve?"

"Oh god no," Alexia waved off that idea with mild contempt. "It was pure chaos, pure Father. The problem with Uroboros was that _no one_ had ever survived it. Jill's lovely contribution of her anti-bodies only slowed down the process. It didn't do anything more to ensure a survival rate. Unleashing it on the world would have done one thing only: sent the world back to the stone age with only three of us remaining."

"Three?" She couldn't have meant Claire. She'd still been herself when Wesker had attempted to launch the virus into the atmosphere.

"Oh, you didn't know? The Birkin girl would make number three." Alexia rolled her eyes and scoffed. "She holds the most perfect specimen of her father's precious G-virus within her cells. It's her only redeeming quality, I assure you. It's why her dear daddy sought her out so doggedly. She could have stabilized his mutation. But we see how _that _ended up. If genius really did run through her family you'd think that maybe he'd have thought of a better failsafe." The girl grinned widely, and patted Claire's cheek affectionately. "Like mine."

"I was just an accident. You can't take credit." Despite her sore throat, her words had her full confidence behind them. Why not after all? It wasn't like she could make her situation an worse.

"Point taken." Alexia conceded with surprising grace. "Hence why I feel the need to credit some unknown force. Only divinity has such a perfect hand. It gave me a much better perspective on things. It's why my plans evolved, while Father stayed buried in his rut. We can't blame him, of course. Change can be daunting unless it is forced upon you. Which is why I know he'll forgive me in time. He'll see things my way. Especially, when you're finished."

The girl bounced up almost giddily. She gave her hair a toss and forced a composure upon herself. "Now, we really need to get back to work. I'm sure they'll be closing in on us at some point in the near future, an I want you to be all ready to present. He'll be so surprised!"

Claire steeled herself, squeezing her eyes shut as the sharpness of the needle slid into her arm again. The fluid that was pumped into her veins was thick enough to feel as it traveled down her arm to the tip of her fingers and then up the inside of her palm, before the sensation faded.

In the calm before the storm, Alexia brushed the hair back from Claire's damp face and neck and gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. It did nothing to sooth Claire as she felt the burn begin again, starting at the tips of her fingers.

The scream was all she ever had.

* * *

A/N: Sorry this took so long to get out, but I did warn you. This is going to be a slow one in coming. If you guys need any updates on writing status, don't hesitate to peek at my profile. I try to update my progress at least once a month.

But if you want me to push things out faster, reviews fuel the muse. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

Eve


	3. Chapter 3

The face that appeared on Ingrid Hunnigan's computer was unfamiliar. As was the source of the call. The standard trace showed multiple points of origin, and that sent up red flags immediately. Always the professional however, Ingrid stayed calm and polite. "Who is this please?"

"I need to speak with Leon Kennedy," The blond woman replied. Her tone was no nonsense, and expecting to be obeyed. Well, two could play that game.

"I'm sorry, you probably have the wrong number. There is no Leon Kennedy here." The last thing in the world Hunnigan would do was confirm any information about the agency or anyone who worked within it to some hacker. But the simple fact that this hacker was very well informed and very slick was a little daunting. The trace couldn't find the source, and it was the most advanced of its kind. Who was this girl?

"That's all right, Ms. Hunnigan." The girl smiled as Hunnigan's brows shot up in surprise before she could stop them. "You don't have to worry about confirming or denying anything. Just tell him Sherry is calling. I'm sure he'll want to speak with me. I can wait. And it will give your little tracer time to see if it can find me."

Hunnigan was left speechless. Who was this woman? How did she know Leon, or herself for that matter. This information was more than classified. "Just a moment." She put the call on stand by and called Leon. In a few brief moments, the caller was patched through.

A short while later, Leon sat across a conference table from a girl he thought he'd never see alive again. Sherry looked healthy and well for a girl in her early twenties. She'd let her hair grow out of its short cap to lay in a smooth fall to her shoulders. She sat straight in her dark blue business suit and looked a world away from the child he remembered.

"Am I so different, Leon?"

Her question surprised him with its pointedness, though his training kept the expression to a minimum. "How can I be certain you are who you claim to be?"

Sherry smiled almost sadly at him, and in that expression Leon saw the child he once knew. Older than her years, that sad smile spoke of long lost innocence that could never be reclaimed. "You don't. I became a ghost a long time ago."

"So what are you doing here?" It was obvious that she hadn't come here to talk about where the hell she'd been for the passed decade, so he wasn't going to dwell on it.

"Claire has been taken." She said it so matter of factly, like it wasn't any more pressing than a flat tire.

"I know. She's been missing for over a month. What do you know about it?"

Sherry smiled almost affectionately at him, that sadness still at the edge of her smile. She reached for her brief case and popped the locks open. She took out two files, one slim, one much thicker, and passed it to him over the polished table top.

"Her initial disappearance was actually two weeks earlier. She came with me to Africa after someone attempted to either abduct or kill her. After the most recent developments, I favor abduction. She was wanted alive. The mask of attempted murder was just a ploy."

Leon looked through the files, assessing the information as Sherry laid it out for him verbally. He controlled his expression with a firm will as the information registered with him. He was looking at things he was probably never meant to see. This information was what his agency and many others had been looking to find for a long time.

"Claire accompanied me to Africa after a confrontation with this person." Sherry reached across the table and flipped one of the files open to a picture of a young child, maybe ten years old. But what was truly shocking was she was a near copy of Claire, but with blond hair and eyes of a different shade of blue. "Alexia Ashford."

"Alexia Ashford died in Antarctica." He said it out of disbelief. She didn't even look like the same person Claire and Chris had both described years ago.

"That is actually true, and yet not." Sherry sat back and folded her hands in her lap. With a calm reserve she related the full story of what had transpired ten years ago. She outlined Claire's infection and subsequent turning to Wesker for help. All Leon could do was sit and listen in a stunned silence. "Eventually, Alexia's plan to be reborn was realized. She entered a fertilized egg in Claire's womb and insinuated as much of her own DNA into the fusion process as she could manage. Her focus was to keep the awareness and memory that her cells were retaining. Her physical appearance wasn't as important, so she does resemble her biological donors."

"A fertilized egg? Wait, who's the father?" Sherry didn't respond. She just tilted her head and kept her eyes on him, waiting for him to say it himself. "Wesker."

"If it makes you feel better, neither of them had a choice. They were both manipulated on a chemical level with no warning. But," She sat forward, placing her folded hands on the table. "Now you see why I came to you first, instead of going to Chris." She tapped the slim file with a fingertip to draw his attention back to the matter at hand. "Here is everything I've managed to piece together on where Claire may have been taken. It isn't much though, I'm afraid. My resources have been limited since the Africa incident."

"Do you think she's even still alive?"

"Oh yes. Alexia's obsessed with Claire as her mother figure. Alexia never had a mother, and now she does. Claire will stay alive as long as Alexia can keep her that way. Whether or not she remains Claire, that is what we have to worry about."

"You think she's going to experiment on Claire." He made it a statement, not a question.

"Leon, I can nearly guarantee you that Alexia has already begun."

It was the most difficult thing he'd ever had to do, letting Sherry walk out of the building. He wanted to keep her close by. But he knew that she'd come to him for a reason, and there was more she hadn't told him. He needed to keep the trust between them alive. So he let her walk away.

As he watched her drive away, he lifted his cell phone, dialing Chris' direct number at the BSAA. He had to know what was happening. But shit, how much should Leon tell him?

Apparently, he was about to have to deal with a series of the hardest things he'd ever have to do in his lifetime.

* * *

Sherry drove for a while before she felt that Leon hadn't put a tail on her. She pulled into a McDonald's and while she had herself a wildberry smoothly, she checked for any gps devices on her vehicle. Nothing. It seemed Leon was smart enough to play it straight with her. Good. That attitude would be key in finding Claire before there was nothing left of her to save.

She fired up her laptop and connected to the satellite. Wesker's face greeted her, hard and unmoving as always. "Leon will communicate the information to Chris. We'll have them both looking for her within the day I think."

"Any problems?"

"No. They still believe you're dead."

* * *

A/N: This one came out fast and was vying for attention with my Fable fan fiction. Look who won!

Thanks for the reviews and please keep letting me know if you like what you're seeing, or if you don't even. In a constructive way. Hope you enjoyed!

Eve


	4. Chapter 4

"Sir." The young man saluted when the salt and pepper head lifted to acknowledge him. "I was listening to some chatter, and I thought I should bring it to you. It seemed like what you'd requested."

The General held out his hand for the transcript and began to slowly peruse the document, the lower ranking officer standing by patiently. He took his time, scanning the text. There was a great deal of expletives and cut off phrases, but as he kept reading the pieces all fell into place.

"Has the BSAA authorized a retrieval of the subject?"

"From what I've gathered, sir, they haven't officially reported it yet. Though I suspect Kennedy will have to divulge some thing to his superiors."

The General nodded. Family could be so hotheaded and foolish, and it would work in his favor. "Keep an eye out for when he does make the report. I want our people to replace whatever team they'll put together. If half of what's in here is true, we may have just hit the military jackpot."

"Yes, sir."

"Dismissed."

* * *

Claire lay quietly, but she wasn't tired. Not anymore. Even the pain was passing quickly now. She didn't even feel the need to scream anymore. And that frightened her more than anything. The pain had anchored her to her humanity. If it was slipping away, that meant she was becoming something that wasn't human.

It meant that it was too late.

No one would come. Not in time. That moment was long gone.

"Feeling better today?"

Claire rolled her eyes toward the sweet voice. It had started triggering something in her. Something that wasn't disgust, hate, or fear. No it was more like closeness, bordering on tenderness. She fought the feeling, because it wasn't real. She could still drudge up anger at that invasion. It was a violation of the worst kind; mimicking a bond she had always dreamed of forging with her own child some day.

Anger was good. It helped bring up the hate and kept the fear at bay. She could use it to get through this.

"I'm not hungry anymore." It was the most civil thing she could come up with without giving too much away. She needed to seem docile enough so that Alexia would begin to trust her. Only then would the lunatic child give her enough of an opening to make an escape.

"Good!" The angelic teenager beamed, sliding closer into Claire's visual range. "That is an excellent sign. It will start to come back eventually. Every living thing needs some kind of fuel, of course. Thirsty at all?"

Claire licked her lips, her tongue feeling only a hit of dryness there. She hadn't had anything in countless hours. She'd asked, of course. Hell, she'd begged at one point she'd been so deprived she felt her stomach would eat itself and her tongue would shrivel. But the blonde psycho had only ever patted her cheek and told her to be patient.

"A little bit."

The smiling face left her vision, but Claire could still hear her moving around the lab. She'd learned not to bother asking what the girl was doing. She wouldn't get a straight answer. So Claire had had to rely on her ears to give her something to go on when she wasn't alone.

She hated being left there alone. It was worse than any moment spent being poked and prodded and cut by the deranged child genius. Because when she was alone, she'd begun to think of horrifying things. Anyone in her situation would naturally think of revenge. But the images that would flash into Claire's mind were terrifying. She would sit there and imagine pouncing on Alexia and cutting her open. Making her scream for hours and hours while Claire broke each bone one by one, and slowly flayed the flesh off. She'd cauterize the wounds as she went of course so the little monster wouldn't bleed out on her or regenerate too quickly.

Admittedly, she'd told herself that it was normal; dreaming of torturing your tormentor. Revisiting every pain back on them with interest. But she drew the line when her mind had strayed to fantasies of eating the girl. That way was the way of a monster, and if every other part of her humanity was stripped away from her, by God she would at least be human in her mind.

Claire was surprised from her thoughts when a straw touched her lips. "Sip slowly." She obeyed, taking the plastic straw between her lips. The water wasn't cool, but room temperature, and it did the trick of washing away the dust in her throat. When the straw was gently pulled away, she wished for more, only because it was something to have.

"You're very nearly done. And they'll be here soon." Claire didn't bother to ask who was coming. She'd guessed that someone would be looking for her. But she didn't know who Alexia was really expecting. She always said "they" like a large group would be arriving. Never "he" or a name. If she had, Claire could have speculated that her brother was closing in on the trail, or maybe even...

She squeezed her eyes shut and avoid thinking about him. Doing so had become increasingly difficult, like a physical pain. She had, at one point, worked herself into a panic attack just by thinking about him. Alexia had been delighted. And then she'd sedated Claire with enough elephant tranquilizer to kill 10 grown men. The fact had made her feel queasy.

Alexia's cool hand rested on her forehead, a soothing gesture. "It'll be all right in the end, Momma. Don't worry."

* * *

Chris felt as though frustration had been his life for the passed six weeks. Since Leon had told him the news about Claire being kidnapped, he'd tracked every minute lead he could get his hands on. He'd harangued Jill until she had nothing left to give him. Hell, she might have even run out of sympathy for him after the way he'd talked to her last time. And all of it had lead him absolutely no where.

If Wesker had been a ghost, then Alexia was a wisp of smoke. And even his tenuous contact with Sherry Birkin revealed very little about the monster child and her movements. Apparently, Alexia had fooled everyone. Except Sherry, who he'd gathered had felt a distinct rivalry, and thus suspicion of the Ashford since her "rebirth".

He punched the blank computer screen and watched the old fashioned glass monitor spiderweb under the impact. He couldn't let his mind dwell on those horrible details. Or the fact that his sister effectively lied to him for ten years.

Post traumatic stress disorder, she and the doctors had claimed. She'd fooled them too. They'd believed it and hadn't tried to probe any deeper. After all, who the hell would have even guessed at the idea of his little sister ending up in bed with a man who had gleefully attempted to kill her, stole her friend's corpse, and then tried to kidnap her.

It made his stomach turn just thinking about it. The worst part was, in his rational mind, he honestly could understand. She'd had no choice, no chance to defend herself against the enemy that was hiding inside her very body. She'd been controlled and used by a mad scientist, child mind or not. And she hadn't thought she could trust him with the knowledge. And that fact stung deeply.

"Hey, ease off the hardware. It's shoddy enough without you banging on it." Sherry Birkin's mild admonishment was delivered as she stared at a complex code on another out of date machine. It had taken everything Chris had not to beat every scrap of information out of the twenty something year old when they'd first met. If it hadn't been for Jill and Leon, he might not have contained himself at all.

But he had to eventually admit that without the girl, they're search would be less than nowhere. Sherry had amazing hacker skills and a wide knowledge base on who they were tracking. She'd grown up with the little psycho after all. But even so, Chris couldn't help but view her with suspicion. They'd track a lead, and she'd pop in to do the computer work. She'd give them the info and then left them until they could piece together the next lead from what little data they had.

Where did she disappear to? He'd asked, and none too nicely. And all he'd in response was "Home, I do need to sleep and eat you know." It was all off, like he was being lead on a merry goose chase. Or more likely, the Birkin girl was using them for their resources. The death of her "guardian" had likely left her with very little assets of her own. But Chris couldn't bring himself to feel sorry for her. Wesker had deserved to die, and she was still more than just a little bit suspicious.

But until he could prove anything, he had to work with her. So he let out a long sigh and ran his hand through his choppy hair. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. I might not even need that console. This baby is about to crack and give up all her secrets." She grinned as she spoke, her deft fingers tickling the keyboard in an elegant frenzy.

They had retrieved several of the computers from the tanker in Africa. It had been a pain in the ass but they'd extracted them and hauled them back across the ocean so the girl wonder could work her magic on them. She'd absolutely refused to travel overseas with them and work on them on site. She'd said it was a trust issue, and Chris hadn't missed the pointed look she'd given him. It was fine, he didn't trust her either and actually preferred having her in a more controlled environment. It was easier to keep an eye on her that way.

They'd struck a compromise. Chris, Leon and their small team would retrieve the computer systems and bring them to a neutral location. No official buildings had been another stipulation. After her initial contact with Leon, she had again flat refused to step back into any federal building. She was smart, watching her back. But her seeming need for it just raised his suspicions more and more. The girl had something up her sleeve. And if he didn't figure it out soon, she'd blind side them all with it.

"Got it!" She pumped her fist in the air, bring Chris out of his scowling thoughts. "Downloading to the slave drive now. I think we've got some of her journal in here."

For a moment, the two of them were on the same level. Both of them were looking at the little blue bar on the monitor with a feeling of hope.

* * *

A/N: Whew! That took a long while. But yay! For my muse returning. You can thank my new fiance for this. He gave me the biggest Wesker boost of my life at Acen. I don't want to go into details about it because it feels like boasting. Anyway, we're moving right along here because I hate an abundance of detail work. I like to leave that to your imaginations. If the timeline is confusing at all, I do apologize but I am trying to make it vague on purpose.

Okay thanks a lot for hanging in there guys! Please review!

-Eve


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